HELSINKI, FINLAND, 28 June 2012: Plexpress Oy, the creator of the innovative TRAC platform for high-throughput gene expression analysis, and Phalanx Biotech Group, the original design manufacturer of the OneArray® line of high-quality microarrays for gene expression and microRNA profiling, have established a strategic alliance to offer the OneTRAC™ service. The new service package will allow researchers to not only discover and select genomic biomarkers, but also to fully validate and understand their function in a streamlined, integrated workflow. The OneTRAC™ analysis service will be offered by Plexpress in Europe, and by Phalanx Biotech in the United States and Asia.

Announcing the launch of the OneTRAC™ service at the 48th EUROTOX Congress, Jari Rautio, Ph.D., CEO of Plexpress commented: “By combining the coverage breadth of OneArray® microarrays and the high-throughput, multiplex capabilities of TRAC, OneTRAC™ offers researchers in industry and academia an integrated approach towards identifying, selecting and validating a robust set of gene expression signatures.” Vivien Mak, Ph.D., Phalanx Biotech’s President, further supported the significance of the OneTRAC™ solution, “With continued interest among drug sponsors to supplement US regulatory submissions with toxicogenomic data, we believe the flexibility and scalability of OneTRAC™ will be well-received by customers investigating expression profiling at both the genome-wide and focused-gene levels. Whether it’s ADME-tox biomarkers or drug-response gene sets for pre-clinical and clinical development, OneTRAC™ is fully capable of addressing the diverse needs of genomic scientists.”

In the OneTRAC™ workflow, genome-wide expression patterns for mRNAs and microRNAs are profiled using Phalanx Biotech’s OneArray® microarrays to determine genes of interest and infer gene expression relationships. Once biomarker signatures are identified, the target genes are validated and further investigated using Plexpress’ FAST TRAC gene expression analysis platform. With the integrated OneTRAC™ service, researchers can easily scale the number of profiled samples across multiple conditions and transition effectively from discovery research to understanding biological function. Besides its application in biomarker development, the OneTRAC™ service is suitable across a range of drug development and life sciences applications, and in several other model systems, including rat and mouse species.

For more information please visit the Plexpress website at www.plexpress.com.

About Plexpress

Plexpress was established as a spinoff from the Finnish Technology Research Center VTT in 2007. Including R&D at VTT, the company’s TRAC technology has been developed continuously for nearly 10 years and it has been documented in over 15 publications. The technology was originally developed for demanding bioprocess applications, which required a very robust solution for gene expression analysis. Since starting operations in 2008, the company has carried out over 50 projects using the TRAC technology in the fields of pharmaceutical development and academic research.

For further information see: www.plexpress.com

About Phalanx Biotech Group

Phalanx Biotech Group, with operations in USA, Taiwan, and China, provides genomic products and services worldwide to academic, pharmaceutical, biotech, and clinical research communities. Phalanx Biotech’s expertise in expression profiling and genetic analysis stems from its excellence as an original design manufacturer of OneArray® gene expression microarrays, CytoOneArray® targeted chromosomal microarrays, and its comprehensive knowledge developed as an application-focused service provider. Our dedicated service specialists provide design consultation from sample preparation to bioinformatics support, and are trained experts in gene expression and microRNA profiling. The OneArray® genomic service lab supports investigators in mechanisms-of-action studies, biomarker discovery, and toxicogenomic profiling. Separately, the CytoOneArray® lab provides clinical researchers with detection analyses of microdeletion and microduplications for 264 clinically confirmed disease regions and 41 subtelomere regions related to congenital disorders.

For more information about our products and services, please visit our website at www.onearray.com